Meant to Be
by happyshadowthoughts
Summary: Biana realizes she has feelings for Dex, which leads to a series of awkward-and sweet-situations.
1. Leaping Crystals

Biana wrapped her cape more tightly around her shoulders and hugged her knees. The temperature was getting colder. She could see her breath puff out in little clouds when she breathed, and her toes were beginning to feel numb.

The wind flung some cold water onto Biana's shoes. She shivered. Wrapping her cape even more tightly around her, Biana looked up at the stars. She could spot so many that she would've been able to bottle if she didn't-

A weird tingly sensation settled over Biana. _Someone was watching her._ Biana whirled around. The Neverseen? Why would they come to her?

Nobody was there. Wait. A rustle in a nearby bush. Biana cautiously got to her feet. She took one step. _Crack!_ The sudden noise of a stick snapping in half beneath Biana's foot startled her. She jumped back. Realizing it was just a piece of wood, Biana began towards the bush again. Her sharp eye caught a pointy rock on the ground a few feet away. She snatched it up. Rock raised over her head, Biana moved towards the bush.

A pair of periwinkle eyes appeared through the gaps in the bush. Biana, realizing who it was, sighed and dropped the rock.

"Dex, get out of there."

A boy with mussed up strawberry blond hair slowly rose from behind the bush.

"H-hi." He smiled sheepishly.

Before Biana could say anything, she shivered from a sudden gust of wind.

"Here, lemme help," Dex took his cape off and wrapped it around Biana's shoulders over her own.

"Th-thanks," Biana shivered. Dex smiled sweetly at her. She couldn't help but blush. He was so soft, almost like a cinnamon roll.

"What are you doing here?" She inquired once she was warm again.

"Following you," Dex raised an eyebrow. "You know it's gonna take a while to bottle all those stars by yourself."

Biana looked down. "I know but I thought I could do it."

Dex chuckled. "Biana, I know how clumsy you are. I was not here two minutes before you tripped and broke one of the bottles."

Biana's face turned crimson.

"Or when you got startled by the wind and-"

"I didn't mean to drop all my supplies in the water!" Biana was indignant. "That was an accident."

Dex smiled. Biana stared up at him. His hair rustled in the wind. His periwinkle eyes seemed to twinkle at her. And his smile...oh his smile...

Biana jerked away from Dex's sudden touch on her shoulder. He immediately backed away.

"Sorry," Biana looked down and tucked a strand of long dark hair behind one ear. Why was she acting so weird around Dex all of a sudden? She never looked at him that way before. Well, they hadn't been alone very often...

"Well I better be getting back to Everglen," Biana thrust Dex's cape into his arms and fumbled around in her pocket for her home crystal. It wasn't there.

"Wh-where did it go?!" Biana was alarmed. How could she have gone and lost her home crystal of all things? Now she was in trouble...

"Um, Biana," Dex spoke up. "I could bring you b-back to Everglen-I mean-if you want...well, I me-mean I can't take you to Everglen directly but i-i-if I take you to Rimeshire I'm sure I could ask m-my Mom to take you back to Everglen, but only if you want I mean, I don't know, it's your choice-oh I'm r-r-rambling sorry..." his voice trailed off as his cheeks blushed pink.

Biana smiled. He was so cute when he stuttered.

Oh my gosh what?! Since when did she get thoughts like that about Dex? She shook her head to clear it.

"N-no?" Dex stuttered. "Th-that's fine I mean I'm sure you could get Fitz to come get you-"

"No!" Biana said. She blushed when he looked at her, startled. "I-I mean, no, I don't mind if you take me home." She smiled.

Dex smiled. "Well th-then, let's go," he pulled out his home crystal.

"Wait!" Biana grabbed his arm. "What about _my_ crystal?"

"Um, I'm sure Alden could..." He stooped, not really paying attention to what he was saying anyway, because he noticed how close Biana was to him.

Biana wasn't paying attention anymore either. Dex's periwinkle eyes sparkled, reflecting the night stars. Biana was mesmerized and couldn't tear her gaze away from them.

Noticing he was staring, Dex cleared his throat and said, "Um, like I was saying, I'm sure Alden c-could get you another crystal..."

Biana swallowed and then nodded. "Oh, um, yeah...he probably could..." She looked away. "Speaking of my dad, I should probably get home before he kills me."

Dex smiled. He held out his hand. Biana shyly took it.

Moments later they disappeared into the light.


	2. Matchmaking Scrolls

**A/N****: I revised this chapter a bit, cause I was unhappy with it. Nothing major changed though, don't worry. Also I noticed this chapter is significantly longer than the others. Huh. Anyway, I'll shut up now.**

A few days had passed since Dex had took Biana home after star bottling. He stood under the leapmaster at Rimeshire, gazing up at the sparkling crystals reflecting the sun from the window in the room.

"Foxfire!" he yelled into the crystals. The leapmaster spun around as it slowly lowered and one of the crystals shot a beam of light at the ground. Dex stepped toward it.

"Dex!" a voice called. Dex sighed. He knew he wouldn't have been able to get away with "forgetting" about the triplets again.

Juline appeared in the room with Dex's siblings, Rex, Lex, and Bex. They grinned at Dex with a devilish look in their eyes. The boys' short strawberry blond hair was all mussed up, while Bex's tangled locks were pulled back into a ponytail to keep out of her face. It didn't seem to be much help as she kept having to push away thin strands that had escaped her jeweled hair tie.

"Dex you have got to stop leaving without your brothers and sister. I don't want to take them to Foxfire myself," Juline scolded, her turquoise eyes looking stern, yet if you looked closer you could catch a hint of twinkling amusement.

"But Mom, they always end up making me look stupid in front of Sophie!" Dex protested. He blushed when he realized what that must've sounded like. He had told people he had gotten over Sophie a while ago. _Since the kiss,_ he thought.

Juline looked like she was about to smile but held back. She turned to the triplets. "Rex, Lex and Bex, stop embarrassing your brother."

"Yeah like that's gonna work," Dex grumbled under his breath. He turned back to the leapmaster.

"Don't worry Dexypoo," Bex patted him on the back. "We would never make you look bad in front of your _girlfriend._" Rex and Lex snickered.

Dex rolled his eyes.

"Or should I say girlfriends?" Bex giggled. "We know about you and Biana."

Dex's face turned red. "What?" he said, a little too quickly. "I don't know what you're talking about." He turned away from his little siblings, nervously running a hand through his hair.

Juline looked at the triplets and then back at Dex, puzzled.

Lex chimed in. "Oh yes you do! Remember that time-"

"Be quiet!" Dex interrupted. "We need to go or we'll be late." He marched up to the leapmaster.

"Dex has a girlfriend! Dex has a girlfriend!" chanted the triplets, skipping back and forth across the room.

"Mom!"

Juline smiled. "Okay kids, that's enough. Dex is right, you should go so you're not late."

Snorting with laughter, the triplets joined Dex under the leapmaster.

"You guys are the worst," Dex muttered under his breath.

Before they glittered away, Bex whispered back, "Biana says we're cute. You wouldn't want to disagree with your _girlfriend,_ would you?"

Dex decided right then to slip a farting elixir into Bex's dinner that night.

Dex, holding his tray of lunch, looked around for his friends in the large and noisy cafeteria. He saw Sophie beckoning him over to a table near the back wall. He smiled and made his way toward it.

"What took you so long?" Marella asked when he had sat down next to her, across from Sophie. Fitz was also there, sitting next to Sophie, of course. He looked unusually giddy as he sipped his lushberry juice.

"Oh-um the triplets needed help with something..." Dex muttered as he helped himself to a brattail. He didn't want to reveal that, instead of helping the triplets(who were making faces at Stina from their table across the cafeteria), he had been thinking about what gift to give Sophie at the end of the finals, and while doing so he tripped and spilled carnissa root all over the girl next to him, who so happened to be Maruca. It took him at least 5 minutes to help clean the purple goo off, and another 5 minutes for her to tell him to stop apologizing so much. He was still embarrassed.

"-matchmaking scrolls," Fitz had just finished saying. Dex came to his senses just in time to hear him.

"What about matchmaking scrolls?" he said through a mouth full of brattail. Marella made a face at him from his right, but he gave no notice of her.

"Oh I just got my first one," said Fitz. He was grinning that movie star grin.

_Wonderboy sure looks happy. I wonder why..._ Dex thought sarcastically. Sophie had obviously made Fitz's list. She was probably at the very top, too.

"Really?" Dex asked, pretending to be interested. Ever since he decided to bury the hatchet with him, he knew he had to keep his sarcastic comments mostly to himself.

"Yes!" Fitz then looked at Sophie, still grinning. She avoided his eyes and started tugging on her eyelashes. Dex stared at her. Fitz was too busy being lost in his own matchmaking world across the table, but Dex knew something was wrong with Sophie. He made a mental note to ask her later.

"Where's Keefe, anyway?" Dex asked.

"What? Oh. Detention again," Fitz replied. He began eating like he just realized he had food in front of him. Sophie stopped messing with her eyelashes and tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, looking relieved that the subject had changed.

"So," Marella said, leaning back in her chair and directing her attention onto the dimpled boy next to her. "What's with you and Biana?"

Dex choked on his Youth in a bottle. His heart started speeding up. "What?"

"Well, Rex, Lex, and Bex are following Biana over here, and they keep nudging her and pointing at you. And laughing," Marella said, smirking.

"What?" Dex repeated. He whirled around to see Biana, who looked slightly uncomfortable but was politely smiling at the teasing triplets, heading over to their table. His heart skipped a beat. He jumped up and knocked over Fitz's lushberry juice, causing it to spill all over the table. Neither of them gave any notice. Fitz was staring off into space, happily chewing on an umber leaf.

"I need to, uh, go to the bathroom. See you later." He walked quickly past the triplets, slugging Bex as he went, but pretending to take no notice of Biana, who glanced at him and then quickly looked away.

In the bathroom, Dex stared at himself in the mirror. _Why did I do that?_ Dex thought. _Why did I run out of the cafeteria like that?_ He thought for a moment. He had never once done that as an immediate reaction when he saw Biana. His strange impulsive actions must've had something to do with the triplets.

The bathroom door suddenly opened. Dex turned. "Oh hi, Keefe," he said when he saw the familiar messy blond hair and ice blue eyes. "I thought you had detention."

"I did," Keefe grinned as he crossed the bathroom to the mirror and began mussing up his blond hair some more. "Snuck out. I'm sure Lady Cadence won't notice."

"Yeah, whatever," Dex said distractedly. He was staring off into space, a distracted look in his eyes.

"What's with you? Oh wait, don't tell me. Is it Biana?" teased Keefe, a glint in his eye.

"What?" Dex snapped out of his stupor. "Why does everyone keep asking me that? Have you talked to the triplets lately? Oh I'm going to kill Bex..."

"No. Lucky guess. Looks like I was right." Keefe flashed his trademark smirk.

Dex suddenly blushed. He leaned against the sink and tried to change the subject. "S-so did you hear about Fitz getting his first matchmaking scroll?"

"What?" Keefe's smirk immediately faded. Dex peered at him curiously. "Oh. When-when did this happen?"

"I don't know," Dex said. "But he seemed pretty happy about it in the cafeteria. I bet Sophie is right at the top of the list."

"Oh," Keefe coughed. "Yeah." He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Probably you're right. Well, I'd better go." And he shuffled out of the bathroom, looking glum.

Dex stared at the door that Keefe had just closed behind him. _What's with him?_ he thought. _Oh, whatever. I'd better get back to lunch before Sophie or someone tries to look for me here._ And with that, Dex wiped his sweaty hands on his cape and left the bathroom.


	3. Blitzenberry Muffins

Biana gazed at her reflection in the mirror in front of her. Mascara was smudged under her eyes. She sighed and rubbed at it with her finger. No use wasting a makeup wipe on something so small. She must've not gotten all of her mascara when taking off her makeup last night. She was kind of distracted...

Thoughts of a certain periwinkle eyed boy popped into her mind at the thought. Biana shook her head and tried to focus on something else. She picked up her hairbrush and ran it through her thick brown hair while attempting to recite her school notes in her head, due to finals being so near, but Dex's cute little dimpled smile kept interrupting her thoughts. She sighed and shoved her hairbrush in her drawer and picked up a jeweled hair clip to pin her hair back.

Still trying to shove thoughts of Dex away, Biana thought of her brother. Fitz had told her a few days earlier about getting his first matchmaking list, but he wouldn't tell her who was on it. She totally sneaked a peek at it when he was in the shower, though.

_The weird thing though,_ Biana thought as she began a light makeup look, _is that Sophie wasn't on the list at all._ She knew because she probably looked over the list 20 times. She recognized a few of the names, and some of them were expected, but not as expected as she thought Sophie's would be. Biana was sure, especially since Sophie and Fitz had revealed their feelings toward each other, that the moonlark's name would at least be in the top five.

_Maybe Sophie didn't register,_ Biana thought with a start as she left her bathroom. She made a mental note to ask her about it later, but she thought it was just too strange that Sophie wouldn't register. She was crazy about Fitz.

"You're up late," Della commented when Biana went downstairs. "Come have a blitzenberry muffin." She gestured to a plate on the table.

Biana grabbed a muffin and bit into it. The berries popped and fizzed in her mouth. "It's the weekend, it's almost against the law to not sleep in." She replied, plopping down at the dining table next to Fitz.

"You look like you slept 3 hours," Fitz teased. "What's been up with you lately anyway? You've seemed...distracted."

"Distracted? Why would I be distracted? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Biana tried to sound convincing, but she doubted it was working.

Fitz raised his eyebrows. "Is this about Keefe?"

"What about Keefe? And keep your voice down!" Biana hated it when her parents knew about her crushes, whether she was over them or not.

But Della had heard. "Are you still going after Keefe, honey?" She asked.

Biana groaned. "No, I got over him ages ago. And what about Keefe?" She asked Fitz again.

"Nothing, just that I'm pretty sure he's considering getting a matchmaking packet." Fitz replied, snatching a few more blitzenberry muffins.

"So? Let him do what he wants." Biana took another bite of her muffin. Fitz looked shocked. Della looked shocked. Her words even shocked _her._ She'd been telling everyone she was over Keefe for months now, but she and everyone else knew that she still had a little something for him. But now, she didn't care about him getting his packet at all. It's like, it's like this whole Dex thing was becoming real.

Biana turned away from Fitz as a revelation hit. Something she'd been trying to push from her mind for days. This-this _Dex thing,_ as she had called it. Was she developing a crush on Dex?

**A/N: Heyyy, it didn't take me a year to update! Only 9 months! Woohoo, new record! Anyway, I wanted to clarify something. For those of you who have read the last few KOTLC books, you may have noticed some plot holes in this fanfic. This particular fic isn't really meant to follow the current plot right now. It's just whatever I think of off the top of my head. Anyway, I just wanted to say that so y'all know I'm not insane and I'm completely aware some of the things I write didn't happen in the books, or they did happen in the books but there was a different outcome or something. You get it, don't you? Anywho, it's like 2am so imma go now. I hope you enjoyed this new chapter! **


	4. Glitter Bombs

"Dex!" A voice called.

Dex rolled his eyes. Since he had gotten home from Foxfire, he hadn't gotten more than 5 minutes alone to work on his latest gadget without getting interrupted. Between his dad needing help at the store for an hour and the triplets bursting into his room every 2 minutes trying to find some way to drive their big brother crazy, peace and quiet just wasn't something Dex was apparently going to get today. He ended up booby trapping his door with a gadget that would explode a mess of glitter onto the next unfortunate soul—hopefully Rex, Bex, or Lex—to set foot past the threshold into his room.

"Dex!" The voice—Juline's voice-called again.

"What?" Dex yelled back. He didn't want to get up just to have to disassemble the glitter bomb he had so carefully installed in his door.

"Fitz and Biana are here," Juline called a little more softly, probably because she was standing outside her son's door now. She knew better than to open it, knowing he had surely planted some kind of evil revenge on his little siblings for whatever mischief they had caused him this time.

Dex brightened a bit. He liked having his friends visit him, even though they were probably only here to ask for a discount on some kind of beauty potion at Slurps and Burps. He stood up.

"We're just coming in, Dex," Fitz's accented voice was suddenly behind the door. The knob turned.

"Wait don't, there's-" Dex started to say, but Fitz was already walking in, Biana close behind.

Suddenly there was a _pop!_ and an explosion of pink glitter rained down right where Fitz was standing. Biana squealed and stumbled back.

"-a bunch of glitter...in...my door." Dex lamely finished. He gaped. Fitz was stiff with sparkles, so many that you wouldn't be able to identify him if it weren't for his unmistakeable teal eyes blinking in shock.

"What just happened?" he asked. He tried to brush glitter out of his thick dark hair.

"Um, the triplets were bothering me, so I kind of...planted a booby trap for them. Sorry."

Fitz didn't answer. He kept attempting to scrape the glitter off his clothes. A giggle came from behind him.

Biana squeezed her way past Fitz into Dex's room. "Don't feel bad Fitz. As I always say, glitter makes everything better!"

Dex flushed and turned to rummage around in his desk, away from Biana so she wouldn't see the embarrassment displayed on his face. "Don't worry, I think I have something...aha!" He pulled out a large bottle filled with a thick purple substance. He handed it to Fitz. "Just use this as hair and body wash when you get in the shower later, and it should get most of the glitter out."

"Thanks..." Fitz kept trying to dust off the sparkles as he took the bottle from him.

"Although in my experience, there might be some glitter left over in some...hidden places for a few days after," Dex laughed awkwardly. He couldn't believe he just glitter-fied Wonderboy, not that he wasn't enjoying it a little.

Biana snorted. "O-ho, Fitzy. You're gonna have a lot of fun with that. Just go home now, I can talk to Dex myself." She suddenly got shy. She quickly looked at Dex. "I mean, if that's okay with you."

"Oh, um, yeah of course it is." Dex scratched his head. _Why is she acting so weird? Did I do something wrong?_

"Yeah, okay." Fitz pulled out his home crystal. He had given up on trying to wipe the glitter off.

"Sorry again," Dex said.

Fitz just lifted his crystal up to the sun coming through Dex's bedroom window. A path of light appeared, shining on the floor.

"See ya, glitter boy," Biana giggled again. Fitz shot her a glare before he stepped into the light and let it carry him away.

"Soo," Dex sat on the edge of his bed and clasped his hands in his lap. His heart began to pound quicker than usual. _Why am I acting like this?_ he thought. This was the way he used to feel when Sophie was around. Before his mind wandered to what _that_ might mean, he asked, "What did you guys need?"

"Need?" Biana walked closer to Dex's bed to sit down, but seemed to change her mind and leaned against his bedside table instead. "We don't _need_ anything. We just...wanted to talk to you about Sophie." She let soft locks of brown hair fall in front of her face. She looked down and swung her legs.

"Sophie? Why?" Dex's heartbeat slowed a bit, and he unclasped his hands and scooted further onto his bed. Realization dawned on him. "Oh. Matchmaking?"

Biana nodded. "Yeah. She said she was going to register, but I don't think she did."

"Yeah, I noticed something weird was going on with her," Dex replied.

It was quiet for a few moments, but then Dex asked, "Wait, so if she didn't register, why did Fitz look so happy?"

"What?" Biana finally looked up at him.

"Fitz. He's been so happy lately, I figured Sophie made the list. But if Sophie didn't register, she can't be on the list."

"Oh." Biana looked slightly bewildered, as if this never occurred to her. "Wow, I didn't even think about that."

"Maybe ask Fitz about it later?" Dex leaned over to his desk and snatched up the gadget he was working on before Juline had called.

There was a pause, and then Biana spoke. "Oh, um, I don't know." Dex looked up at her. She watched his hands tinker with the gadget for a moment. "He doesn't really...tell me...anything."

Dex watched her with a puzzled gaze. She seemed a little distracted. She glanced up and noticed him staring at her. They made eye contact for a few seconds, though it felt like a few minutes. He never noticed how beautiful her eyes were. They appeared to glimmer as she looked back at him. There was a hint of something behind those delicate teal eyes...something like...awe...

Biana suddenly looked away and covered her face with her hair. Dex cleared his throat and looked back down at his project.

That was _weird,_ he thought as he tried to remember what he was last doing with the tiny metal pieces poking out of the gadget. He searched for something to say to cover up that awkward moment. "So, um," he began, careful to avoid looking at Biana again. "Why did you come to me specifically?"

"Well," Biana said. "I told Fitz what I had noticed about Sophie..." She cleared her throat as if trying to compose herself. "He was denying it, claiming that Sophie always acted like that, not that he's wrong, but I told him Sophie's my best friend and-" She suddenly stopped and looked at Dex. "Not that you're not her best friend, but-I mean-it's like, a girl thing, um..."

Dex merely looked at her. She was stuttering, a _lot. Which is unusual for Biana,_ he thought. She was usually confident and had a sort of I'm-not-taking-your-crap attitude. But right now, she was tripping over her own words, and her cheeks were flaming with embarrassment.

A sudden knock at the door interrupted Biana's spluttering, and Kesler poked his head into the room. "Dex, I need you to-oh hello, Biana." He looked at the two of them curiously.

"Hi, Kesler," Biana said kindly, all signs of her previous unease erased from her face. "I just came over to...ask Dex for some tips on how to prank my brother. He keeps stealing my beauty products."

Dex nodded. Kesler just chuckled. "Well, I need Dex for a few minutes."

"That's okay, Kesler, I need to head home anyway." Biana hurried out of the room. "Thanks, Dex!" she called behind her, and then she was gone.

Barely acknowledging what Kesler was then saying to him, Dex thought back to his previous, odd encounter with Biana with interest. Not until that night when he was lying awake in bed did he realize she never really did say why she and Fitz chose to come to him about Sophie.


	5. Sunflower Snacks

The glittering mansion of Havenfield materialized in front of Biana as the warm feathery feeling of light leaping slipped away from her. She took a deep breath, already detecting the heavenly scent of the panake blossoms from Calla's tree across the pasture. The soft breeze tickled Biana's skin, a welcome feeling after her visit to Dex in his room just a few minutes ago that left her feeling unusually warm. This blissful moment lasted for only a second, though, because a sudden loud ROOOOOARRRRR! sent Biana stumbling back.

"Get back here you little-" she heard a voice coming from Verdi's pen. She looked over to see Grady, along with a team of gnomes, running after the large, colorful dinosaur, each figure lugging a bucket filled to the brim with what looked like sunflowers.

Biana brushed off her skirt and cautiously made her way towards the commotion. She noticed Sophie standing outside the pen with an armful of the sunflowers.

"Uh, Sophie?" Biana tapped her friend on the shoulder. Sophie jumped.

"Oh, hi, Biana. Sorry, kinda busy." Sophie released her armful of sunflowers into another bucket.

"Do you need help?" Biana asked, feeling awkward and kind of useless.

"We're fine. Stay right there." Sophie picked up the bucket and started running after her adoptive father and the gnomes. Biana watched as Edaline suddenly appeared from behind Verdi's thrashing figure with more gnomes, each of them holding a large rope with a loop in the end of it.

"Now!" Edaline's strong voice yelled out. She and the gnomes swung the lassos and threw them out and over Verdi's neck.

ROOOOARRRRR! Verdi was not happy. She bucked her head, trying to get the ropes off.

"Hold on!" Edaline yelled again. She and the gnomes stood their ground, gripping the ropes tightly with both hands.

Now that Verdi was unable to go anywhere, Grady, the other gnomes, and Sophie crept up to her and began throwing the sunflowers at her face. Biana expected the flowers to drift to the ground, but they sailed toward the target of Verdi's mouth with surprising ease. A couple dozen of the sunflowers landed on her tongue mid-roar, and she chomped down on the chewy petals. Suddenly all was quiet as the neon dinosaur happily munched on the flower treats.

"Told you you would like 'em, you big baby," Grady grumbled, emptying the rest of his sunflowers into a larger bucket that a gnome just arrived with moments before. He glanced up and noticed Biana. "Oh, hi, Biana! Didn't see you there."

Sophie flicked her last sunflower into the large bucket and turned around, wiping her brow with her sleeve. Dark circles that Biana didn't notice before rimmed Sophie's eyes. "Hey, sorry about that. We've been trying to get Verdi to try these new sunflower snacks, but she was being stubborn as usual. At least it's over now." She trudged past Biana towards the mansion, tucking a strand of her blonde, tangled hair behind her ear. Biana followed. She wanted to say something, but was too busy thinking about how frazzled Sophie looked. She usually had dark circles under her eyes, this was no surprise, but they seemed even darker today. They almost looked like bruises.

Sophie opened her front door, the light catching the glass of its window. Biana followed her inside.

"So, did you need something?" Sophie asked, looking tired.

"No, just wanted to talk. Could we go up to your room?" Biana asked, peering closer at Sophie's eyes. They looked...sad.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Sophie turned and began heading up the stairs. She didn't say anything until they got to her floor, which wasn't unusual for Sophie. Still, Biana was concerned for her friend.

Iggy was settled in his cage by Sophie's bed, and when he saw the girls he let out a fart as a greeting. Sophie smiled and unlatched his cage to let him crawl up her arm. Biana noticed her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

"So...what is it?" Sophie asked, sinking into her canopy bed.

"Well...I wanted to ask you about Fitz," Biana admitted reluctantly.

Sophie instantly stiffened. Biana, not surprised by this reaction, took a seat on the edge of the bed next to her. "You do like Fitz, don't you?"

"Yes! Yes, of course I do!" Sophie replied, flustered.

"Then why have you been acting so weird around him?" Biana asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Weird? I haven't been acting weird."

"Well, for example, every time he brings up matchmaking you get all nervous and start tugging on your eyelashes again."

"No I don't." Sophie insisted, reaching up to pull out an eyelash.

"You're doing it right now!" Biana grabbed Sophie's arm to stop her. "So this is about the matchmaking thing?"

Sophie didn't reply. She swept her blonde hair behind her shoulder with her left hand and began tugging at her eyelashes again.

Biana sighed and dropped her arm. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You're a terrible liar."

Sophie's brown eyes glanced up and looked at Biana. She sighed. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes!"

Sophie hesitated for a moment, appearing to be on the fence between whether or not she should say anything. Finally, she swallowed and said, "I...I...I'm unmatchable."

Silence.

"What?"

"I'm unmatchable, okay?" Sophie answered, slightly defensive as she stroked Iggy's soft fur, now yellow from Dex's last dye-fest.

"I've never heard of an elf being unmatchable," Biana replied quietly.

Sophie inched away. "Well, big surprise, the first time it happens it happens to Sophie, the weird elf with the weird past with the weird alicorn genes with the weird brown eyes. What a shock that weird little Sophie is weird and unmatchable!"

Biana stared at Sophie, silent and appalled at this sudden outburst. After a minute Biana spoke again. "Sophie I...didn't mean that to be offensive."

Sophie didn't say anything, just kept on petting Iggy's sparkly fur.

Biana looked down at the pink flowers pressed into the carpet. The two girls just sat there, side by side on the bed, not saying a word.

Until Biana spoke up again. "So why haven't you told Fitz yet?"

Sophie looked away. "Because he might decide that I'm not worth it and go prancing off with some other girl."

Biana looked stunned. "Sophie, seriously? Fitz loves you. He wouldn't leave you like that."

"He might."

"He won't."

After Sophie once again didn't say anything, Biana decided to step into dangerous territory. "Are you sure there isn't some other reason why you won't tell him? Maybe...you're scared of someone else knowing?"

Sophie looked back at Biana. "What?"

Biana studied her gold-flecked eyes. They had a baffled look behind them that seemed genuine. Not wanting to make things worse than they already were, Biana just said, "Never mind."

Sophie studied her, a questioning look on her face. Biana pretended not to notice. Without warning, Sophie suddenly burst out, "So what's going on with you and Dex?"

"What? Nothing!" Biana blurted, almost too quickly. "Why did you randomly change the subject like that? That was such an un-Sophie thing to do."

"Of course I'm going to change the subject when you're interrogating me about my feelings!"

"Then why did you have to go and ask about my feelings?"

"I didn't say anything about feelings."

Biana stopped and gawked at Sophie. She stood up abruptly. "Well, I need to get home," she said, acting as if they were just discussing something as normal as fashion tips.

"Okay, see you tomorrow."

Biana mumbled an acknowledgement and made a beeline for the door. As she hurried down the stairs, her mind raced, her thoughts tripping over each other. Was this...this...thing between her and Dex obvious with their friends? She didn't even know what this thing was! She still wasn't fully sure what to do about her newfound realization that she might have feelings for Dex, and now Sophie suspected something between them. She didn't know what to do about anything. She just...didn't know.


End file.
